From Clovelly to the Universe
by rainbowchipBroadwaylover
Summary: From the time Logan turned Ten she knew there was a man in a blue box out there who brought her to London. No one believed her. Now she's eighteen and the blue box is back, but the man isn't the same. She finds out what happened to the most wonderful man, and who he is becoming. She will be with him forever, even if it takes forever to get to that point. Read to find out more.
1. Prologue: The man in the blue box

**An: Hi guys, this is my first Doctor Who fic, so I hope you like it, I'm starting with the Ninth Doctor. I hope you enjoy it! Clovelly is just a place that came up when I searched towns and villages in England. I really have no Idea where it is.**

**Disclaimer: I in no way own Doctor Who or any of its characters/creatures **

**Clovelly January 14 2000**:

Today was a great day. Mum took me out for my birthday then brought me back home to have Auntie Mel watch me so she could go to work. I don't like Auntie Mel. She's mean and falls asleep before me, or goes to the pub down the street for an hour before mum gets home. Then I'm left alone.  
Tonight I have to sit quietly in my room. I begin to cry because mummy is taking longer than normal and it's my birthday. I stop to hear a whirring and see a giant blue box magically appear in front of me. My eyes are starting to hurt from crying and staring at the box.  
I would go get Auntie Mel but she would just call me crazy. A tall man steps out. "Oh hello." He says in a northern accent.  
"Hello," I frown. This man is really odd, shaved dark head and wearing more leather than I've ever seen on anyone.  
"What's wrong?" He seems concerned. "Were you crying?" I nod holding back more tears. He sits next to me.  
"My mum isn't here, she left me with stupid old auntie Mel." I huff  
"Oh I see, Auntie Mel must be mean and must treat you like you don't belong?" He says.  
"Yeah and it's my birthday." I add  
"And your mum didn't want to celebrate with you?"  
"She had to work." I frown.  
"What if I said I could take you anywhere you want for your birthday?" He asks  
"Really? You could take me to visit my favorite place?"  
"Sure anywhere you want. I could take you to...  
"Can you take me to London?" I spurt out. He nods  
"Hop in the TARDIS." He points to the box  
"How are you going to get us to London in that?" I ask with as much sass as possible.  
"How old are you?" He asks back  
"Ten today."  
"Fantastic." He smiles all the way to his big ears. "Well the TARDIS is like a plane except it travels through time."  
"Okay." I return his smile and hold his hand. "Take me to London... I never got your name." I realize.  
"I'm the Doctor and you are?"  
"I'm Logan, but most people call me Lo. I prefer Logan though."  
"Okay then Logan, off to London we go!"

**London March 26, 2005:**

"Here we are Logan, London March 2005." He says opening the doors.  
"2005? Why so far in the future?" I ask.  
"Not sure the TARDIS has a mind of its own sometimes, but we can do anything you like, I is your birthday after all."  
"Can we just walk around?" I ask "I just want to see London, I've only been here once."  
"Fantastic, we're off." He says then runs back to the TARDIS.  
"Doctor what are you…?" I ask as he comes out with a small machine.  
"My anomaly detector, it's been going off since we got here… How about we have an adventure instead?" He asks  
"I'd like that!" I say knowing this could be better than just walking around.

We end up at a shop. "Do you know why we're here?" I ask impatiently  
"No idea but that's the fun of the adventure." He runs around the back and opens the door with a metal wand. We walk in and hide in the janitorial closet.  
Soon we hear screaming and burst out of the closest. He motions me to stay put, and I do so. I wait until he calls, there's a girl with him.  
"You travel with a kid?" the blonde girl asks.  
"It's her birthday," He replies.  
"I'm not that young, I can function as a human being!" I snap at her. "I'm Logan by the way."  
"Rose…"

**Clovelly January 14 2000:  
**

"Doctor why do I have to go back home?" I ask.  
"Because your mum must miss you." He says.  
"Yeah, I guess but you'll come back right?" I ask eagerly.  
"Of course, every year on your birthday." He smiles.  
"Okay!" I smile and step into my room. "How long was I gone?"  
"An hour at the most. No one even knew you left." He says "I'll see you in a year, I promise."  
"Thank you Doctor. I'll count the days until next year," I grab my pjs and he hugs me goodbye.

**Clovelly January 14 2001:**

I stay up all night waiting for the Doctor. He promised to be here... But where is he? Mum thinks I'm mad, maybe I am. I wish he would come.

**Clovelly January 14 2004:**

I've been waiting for four years, where is the most amazing man I've ever met... Will he even know who I am? I mean I have boobs and hips and a bum now... I can't wait for him anymore... Dr. Doofus is right... I want to cry.

**Clovelly March 27 2005:**

Mum wouldn't let me go find the Doctor, I feel like something could have happened to him, but I guess meeting my future self would freak my ten year old self out more than the doctor had.  
I read about the apartment store we exploded together, I thought it was great fun, but now I wish it weren't so real, I could have gone my whole life without knowing he really did exist

**London June 17 2008(the Present):**

_My name is Logan Chase. I'm eighteen years old, and when I was ten I made an imaginary friend named the doctor._

I write in the journal I was given by my mum for my birthday six months ago.

_Well… imaginary to mum and Aunt Mel and all my classmates. He's real and if I ever meet him again, I'll travel the universe with him. I'll spend forever with him, and we'll run and run and run. Oh and of course there will always be an adventure and everyday will…_

I trail off, as I hear a whirring noise. A noise I've heard only once before. I run out of my apartment, and stare as the blue box appears in front of me. Tears roll down my cheeks, and after all this time the doctor has finally come back.

**AN: So what did you think? Review to let me know. I'll have the next chapter up ASAP! Oh and the last date was the present for Logan, not me.**


	2. Chapter 1: A New Doctor

**AN: Chapter 1. Yay!**

* * *

**London January 14 2008 6 pm:**

I watch the blue box appear where the whirring noise had sounded. How odd it was to see it after all these years. My psychologist would never believe me, but screw Dr. Doofus (my name for him). There she was the blue box called the TARDIS. And where the TARDIS is the Doctor is bound to be. A scraggly man stumbles out with a blonde girl. Not the man I remember. I stare and he returns the gawk, "Who are you?" I say angrily.  
"I'm the Doctor, who are you?" He says with a huge grin  
"No you're not. The doctor is tall sturdy and wears leather. You are just some beanpole who wears a suit and pretends to be the most wonderful man in the world." I yell at him.  
"What's your name?" He asks.  
"If you were the doctor you would know... You left me waiting for five years! I had to give up on you. You broke your promise! I had to go to psychotherapy! Does that give you a hint beanpole? I waited five years, I gave up three years ago got a life... I have a boyfriend now... And he's taking me for dinner so leave now." I command.  
"Doctor," The women starts  
"No..." She does look familiar. "Is she the one from the department store with the plastic people? I see it's cause she was older right?" I turn and point my finger at him.  
"Wait this is Logan!" She exclaims looking me over.  
"This is why you forgot isn't it? Because you had her?" I burst into tears.  
"Oh God… Logan, that sweet little girl, the one I took to London for her birthday. Look at you." He doesn't even look sorry.  
"You are an absolute ass!" I yell. "You leave me for eight years I had to go to therapy for a whole year before I stopped talking out loud about you! Then I had to go back when I tried to find you in March 2005, the day you and I first met her!" I yell  
"Her name is Rose." Is the only response I get.  
"Doctor get back into the TARDIS." She tells him. "I'll talk to her." He retreats to the beautiful box.  
"I wish I had remembered you, I really would have liked you to grow up in the TARDIS, had the doctor and me raise you, that would have been fun, but this way you can come travel with us now and be able to do everything." She tries to reason with me.

"I just waited my life away. Everyone called me mental, even my mum... I finally moved to London and found a guy who thinks I'm normal. I can't just go back to being ten again and run off with a strange man in the middle of my birthday." I sob  
"Just try, we can always bring you back," She suggests. "He's still the Doctor you know. He does this thing where he changes every cell in his body so he doesn't have to die."  
"Alright then. I'll do it," she holds out her hand. "can I get some things from my flat first?" She nods and I run inside.

* * *

_Dear Erik,_

_I have to go on a trip for a bit not sure when I'll be back. But I'll call every night I promise._

_Love,  
Logan_

I write the note and pack a bag of various things just to be sure.

* * *

As I step in the TARDIS I remember that the inside is infinite, "Ready to go?" The doctor asks.  
"Yeah let's go." I say thinking 'maybe this could be the best adventure of my life.'  
"So who is this boy?" Rose asks. The Doctor rolls his eyes at the girl talk, something I've never really had. My mobile rings, the screen reads Erik.  
"It's him." I flash the phone in front of her face. I hit the green call button, and put it on speaker giving the Doctor and Rose the quiet sign "Hello."  
"Where have you gone?" He asks in his Canadian accent.  
"I ran off with some Scottish bloke and a girlfriend from work." I say.  
"Haha, very funny," he mocks. "You wrote that you would call but you've been gone a week." I look at the Doctor. "Should I report you missing?"  
"NO!" I nearly yell "I'll call you as soon as can it could be a while, but I'm safe I promise. Love you, see you soon." He doesn't answer as the line goes dead. "an entire week of my life gone." I look at the Doctor  
"He had me gone for an entire year, when I first started traveling with him." She chides jokingly. "Your family gets used to it."  
"I didn't really tell him I was traveling the galaxy though." I admit  
"I didn't tell my mum at first either, but as the adventures go on you care a little less, never really missing earth. Except the chips." She laughs.  
"So where are we off to?" I ask.  
"Well, we have to go visit Mickey, that's actually where we were headed." The Doctor tells me.  
"Who's Mickey?" I look at Rose for a clear answer.  
"My kind of boyfriend…" She looks slightly ashamed.  
"Okay then, let's go see Mickey!" I say  
"Allons-y!" The Doctor yells

* * *

**AN: So the first chapter, and we're off. The next chapter will take place in **_**'School Reunion'**_** so Sarah Jane Smith and K9 will be joining us! That will be up asap!**


	3. Chapter 2: The Girl in the Fireplace

**AN: Hi guys I Lied I'm going to mention the end of 'School Reunion', but then the gang is off to a 51****st**** century spaceship with 18****th**** century France on board. Enjoy! Sorry if it's long.**

Sarah Jane meets us back at the TARDIS. "Cup of Tea?" the doctor asks as the two step inside.  
"You've redecorated." She says placing her hands on the consul. "I like it, I much preferred the old way, but it's nice." Mickey, Rose, and I stand at the railing.  
"I love it!" Rose exclaims  
"Hey you what's 47 *398." Sarah Jane asks Rose.  
"Don't know the oil's faded." She shrugs.  
"But you're still clever, more than a match for him" Sarah Jane smiles looking at the Doctor.  
"You and me both." Rose grins her best grin all week.  
"Doctor," I say just loudly enough for him to hear. He looks up from the consul.  
"Um, we're about to head off but," A smile appears on his face, "You could come with us." Rose and I have smiles to match.  
Sarah Jane shakes her head tentatively, "I can't do this anymore," the Doctor's face drops slightly. "Besides I have a much bigger adventure ahead! Time I stopped waiting for you, and found a life of my own." She smiles at the doctor.  
"Can I come?" Mickey pipes up. Sarah Jane and I look at him the exact same way. "Not with you, with you," He points to the Doctor. "'Cause I'm not the Tin Dog. And I want to see what's out there."  
"Oh go on Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith or Mickey Smith." Sarah Jane eggs on the choice. "You need a Smith on board!"  
"Okay then," The Doctor agrees "I could do with a laugh." Mickey turns to Rose.  
"Rose is that okay?" Mickey asks  
"Yeah, sure why not?" Rose shrugs  
"Well I better go," Sarah Jane hugs me first.  
"Thanks Sarah Jane, for everything." I smile then she hugs Rose and talks to her privately. "Welcome to the team Mickey." I laugh as he picks me up in a hug. "Put me down!" I protest laughing the whole time. Sarah Jane and the Doctor exit leaving the three of us alone. "Okay so where are we off to next?" I smile. Rose retreats further into the TARDIS, leaving Mickey and I alone.  
"Okay then," Mickey says heading over to the consul. "She'll get over it."

"It's a spaceship! Brilliant, I got a spaceship on my first go!" Mickey says excitedly.  
"So I get to go back to school and he gets a spaceship?" I say with false irritation.  
"Looks kind of abandoned... Anyone on board?" Rose seems surprised  
"Nah, nothing here. Well! Nothing dangerous. Well! Not that dangerous." I roll my eyes, "You know what, I'll just have a quick scan... in case there's anything dangerous." Rose smirks as he walks over to a control panel in the centre of the room and starts tapping at some buttons.  
"So, what's the date? How far we gone?" She asks  
"About three thousand years into your future, give or take."  
"I should call Erik," I say. "You know I think three thousand years is enough space." I walk back to the TARDIS, and dial Erik's number.  
"Hello" His voice answers, it seems deeper.  
"Hi sweetie, it's me." I say quickly  
"Are you with the Doctor again?" He asks  
"What, how do you know about the Doctor?" I say panicked  
"This must be a wibbley-wobbley thing," He says. "How old are you right now?"  
"18, I left you a few days ago," I tell him "But I… well I'll tell you all about it when I get back," I say. "How old are you?"  
"27, and you stay with that man as long as you need to no matter what I say when you see me next." Erik sounds on the verge of tears. "Just please come home soon, I miss you." He hangs up there. I've left him waiting for me for nine years. I'll go back to him someday.  
I walk out to hear Rose say "Mickey Smith, meet the universe. See anything you like?"  
"It's so realistic!" He exclaimes  
"Of course it is," I laugh, "it's real. This is brilliant Doctor!"  
"Dear me, had some cowboys in here! Got a ton of repair work going on." He says not paying attention to Mickey or I. He chucks the pieces down casually, noticing a screen with a diagram of the spaceship on it. Rose, Mickey and I join him to look at it. "Now that's odd, look at that. All the warp engines are going... full capacity! There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe... and we're not moving. So where's all that power going?" He states with growing surprise and curiosity  
"Where'd all the crew go?" Rose joins in the curiosity. The Doctor leans forward and tweaks some knobs on the control panel.  
"Good question, no life readings on board." The Doctor responds  
"Well, we're in deep space; they didn't just nip out for a quick fag." I say. Mickey's still trying to take everything in.  
"Nope, checked all the smoking pods." The Doctor answers. "Can you smell that?"  
"Yeah, someone's cooking." Rose says  
"Sunday roast, definitely!" Mickey agrees.  
"But what if it's not?" I say trying out all possibilities. The Doctor presses something else and a door opens behind us. We walk through and see part of the wall and floor with 18th decor, as well as a familiar looking lit fireplace.  
"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship. Eighteenth century! French! Nice mantel." He pulls out his sonic screwdriver and points it at the fireplace. "Not a hologram." He bends down and examines it closely while Mickey and Rose explore the rest of the room. I stand right by the Doctor, not knowing what to do. "Not even a reproduction, this actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace. Double-sided, there's another room through there."  
I crouch down to look into the other room. A young girl with long blonde hair, dressed in a nightgown, is looking back at me. "Oh hello!" I say with more surprise then intended.  
"Hello..." She responds as the Doctor crouches beside me.  
"What's your name?" The Doctor asks, and his eyes light up.  
"Reinette." She answers  
"Reinette, that's a lovely name. Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?" He asks a little too excitedly. I tap his shoulder to tell him too much  
"In my bedroom." She replies slightly suspicious.  
"And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?"  
"Paris, of course!" I nod trying to make sure we look somewhat normal to this child.  
"Paris, right!"  
"Monsieur and Madame, what are you doing in my fireplace?"  
"Oh, it's just a routine... fire check. Can you tell me what year it is?" I respond this time  
"Of course I can! Seventeen hundred and twenty seven." She says excitedly  
"Right, lovely! One of my favourites... August is rubbish though. Stay indoors. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night night!" He says  
"Goodnight Monsieur and Madame." She says returning to her bed  
The Doctor stands, looking thoughtful. "Madame? How old do I look?" I ask standing beside him.  
"You said this was the fifty-first century." Mickey protests  
"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."  
"What's that?"  
"No idea. Just made it up. Didn't wanna say 'magic door'."  
"So it's wibbley-wobbley?" I ask  
"Yeah.. wait how'd you…" He begins  
"And on the other side of the (deep voice) 'magic door' (normal voice) is France in 1727? The Doctor nods and looks back at the fireplace before walking across the room, taking his coat off and throwing it in the corner. "Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too."  
"She was speaking English, I heard her!" Mickey nearly yells. Rose drapes her arms around Mickey's neck as the Doctor strides back to the fireplace.  
"That's the TARDIS - translates for ya." She smiles feeling pretty smart.  
"Even French?!"  
"Yep." She laughs at his reaction  
The Doctor knees the side of the fireplace and that section of the wall begins to rotate, just like in a horror movie, taking the Doctor and I with it.  
"Gotcha!" He yells  
"Doctor! Lo-" Rose is cut off.  
Once the fireplace has finished turning, we're standing in a dark and shadowy bedroom, with Reinette asleep. The Doctor wanders towards the window. The Paris skyline stands out as I join him. "Beautiful" I whisper, the Doctor nearly jumps two feet. Reinette sits up, and the Doctor turns around.  
"It's okay! Don't scream! It's me, it's the fireplace man. Look." He walks over and lights a candle by her bed with the sonic screwdriver. She still looks startled.  
"We were talking, just a moment ago. We were in your fireplace." I tell her.  
"Madame, that was weeks ago. That was months!" She tells me  
"Really? Oh." I say. "Let me guess, Wibbley-Wobbley." He walks back to the fireplace and knocks on it, listening to the sound produced.  
"Must be a loose connection. Need to get a man in." the Doctor jokes  
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" She asks I wait for the Doctor to answer. The Doctor does not reply, instead staring at the clock on the mantel with his mouth open, looking slightly fearful.  
"Okay, that's scary..." He trails off.  
"You're scared of a broken clock?" Reinette says skeptically. My eyes become wider, if the clocks broken where's that tick coming from?  
"Just a bit scared, yeah. Just a little tiny bit. 'Cause you see, if this clock's broken, and it's the only clock in the room..." The Doctor pauses, turning to look back at Reinette. "Then what's that?" The ticking grows louder and Reinette looks around, clearly scared again. The Doctor barely moves, speaking slowly and quietly.  
"'Cause you see that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance. Too big. Six feet, I'd say. Size of a man."  
"What is it?" Reinette and I say together.  
The Doctor checks behind the curtains, finding nothing. He is speaking more quickly now, spilling out his thought processes. "Now, let's think. If you were a thing that ticks and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do: break the clock. No one notices the sound of one clock ticking, but two?" he stops mid-speech, looking right at Reinette. "You might start to wonder if you're really alone."  
He moves towards the bed and crouches down, giving Reinette instructions as he pulls the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. "Stay on the bed. Right in the middle. Don't put your hands or feet over the edge."  
He peers underneath the bed before turning on the sonic screwdriver to scan. Suddenly something smacks the Doctor backwards, knocking the screwdriver out of his hand. Reinette gasps and the Doctor scrambles back to look underneath. The Doctor slowly resumes crouching, looking at Reinette with wide eyes.  
"Reinette..." He tells her and I gasp at what I see. "Don't look round." He whispers to her.

A figure is standing on the other side of the bed, wearing a creepy clown-like mask and leering down at Reinette, who looks terrified. "You stay exactly where you are." I'm not sure who he means, The Doctor stands up to look straight at the figure. He glances back at Reinette, then at me, then to the figure, and then back at Reinette, discomforted by something.  
"Hold still, let me look..." He bends down and grasps Reinette's head between his hands, staring intently into her eyes with a disturbed expression before looking back at the figure.  
"You've been scanning her brain!" He pauses, looking once more into Reinette's eyes before standing up straight again.  
"What, you've crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain? What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the universe?" I yell at it shocked  
"I don't understand... it wants me?!" She looks round at the figure, but does not even flinch "You want me?"  
The figure's head twitches to one side and it speaks in a distinctly mechanical voice. "Not yet. You are incomplete."  
"'Incomplete'? What's that mean, 'incomplete'?" I say utterly disgusted with it. The droid does not answer, but continues staring at Reinette. The Doctor stands up and speaks in a firm but slightly irritated voice, producing the sonic screwdriver and pointing it threateningly at the droid. "You can answer her, you can answer me. What do you mean, 'incomplete'?"  
The droid again does not answer, instead walking in jerky movements around the bed and facing the Doctor. The droid extends an arm and a menacing looking blade slides out near the Doctor's face. He tilts his head away.  
"Monsieur, be careful!" She yells at the doctor.  
"Just a nightmare, Reinette, don't worry about it. Everyone has nightmares." The Doctor backs away, the droid pursuing. It swipes at the Doctor who jumps back, reaching the fireplace. "Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?" The droid slashes at the Doctor again. He jumps aside, and the droid's blade hits the mantel, getting stuck.  
"What do monsters have nightmares about?" She asks as the droid struggles, I hop on and the Doctor takes the opportunity to turn the fireplace around.  
"Me, ha!" He says like a madman.  
"Doctor! Logan!" Rose yells at us. As the fireplace finishes turning the Doctor runs and grabs a gun-like object from the wall, using it to spray ice at the droid. It convulses in a last, vain attempt to free itself before freezing completely.  
"Excellent, ice gun!" Mickey states ecstatically  
The Doctor calmly throws the 'gun' to Rose, who catches it, "Fire extinguisher."  
"Where did that thing come from?" Rose asks  
"Here." The Doctor says simply  
"So why is it dressed like that?" Mickey asks stupidly.  
"Field trip to France, some kind of basic camouflage protocol - nice needlework! Shame about the face." I tell him. The Doctor stares at me. "Hey you pick things up quickly when you're told you have delusions."  
He has walked back over to the droid, squinting at it. He pulls off the wig to reveal its actual head - an ornate clockwork mechanism, covered with a clear plastic egg shape. "Oh, you are beautiful!" The Doctor cannot help but admire it with near giddy excitement.  
Mickey and Rose edge closer in curiosity, and the Doctor puts on his glasses to examine it more closely.  
"No really, you are, you're gorgeous! Look at that! Space age clockwork, I love it! I've got chills! Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart - and, by the way, count those - it would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you." "But that won't stop me." He takes one last wistful look at the droid before holding up the sonic screwdriver.  
I roll my eyes "Hey have your way with it later eh?" I laugh.  
The droid creaks back into life and teleports away. Rose and Mickey blink and look around, and the Doctor stuffs the screwdriver back into his pocket, walking swiftly back to the fireplace and preparing to go back to the other side. "Short range teleport, can't have got far. Could still be on board."  
"What is it?"  
"Don't go looking for it!" He points at us  
"Where're you going?" I ask.  
"Back in a sec." He says and I hop on, and he turns the fireplace, returning to Reinette's side. We stand by the fireplace in a plush bedroom of red and gold. He steps away from it and calls out. "Reinette... Just checking you're okay... Oh Logan I told you I would be…"  
"I know, but it might be odd if you're here and I'm not," I tell him "And I'm not letting you leave me again, ever."  
He puts his glasses on and idly brushes a hand across the strings of a harp as a young woman walks into the room. She pauses, obviously recognising the Doctor and I. He seems not to notice her until she clears her throat.  
"Oh! Hello!" He says. He quickly puts away his glasses, clearly surprised and at least marginally distracted by her appearance, continues with a slight stutter "Um, I was just looking for Reinette. Uh, this is still her room, isn't it? I've been away, not sure how long." He gives a slight frown.  
"That is…" I start but a voice from the other room cuts me off.  
"Reinette! We're ready to go!" A shrill voice calls  
"Go to the carriage, mother, I will join you there." She calls back. A grin spreads widely across the Doctor's face, One that matches mine. "It is customary, I think, to have an imaginary friend only during one's childhood. You are to be congratulated on your persistence." She mostly addresses the Doctor.  
"Reinette...!" He stammers. Reinette smiles. "Well." He swallows, looks her up and down "Goodness, how you've grown."  
"He means it's nice to see you again" I interject  
"And you do not appear to have aged a single day. That is tremendously impolite of you." She gets closer to the Doctor.  
"Right... yes... sorry. Um... umm... umm.. listen, lovely to catch up, but er, better be off, eh? Don't want your mother finding you up here with a strange man, do we?"  
"And me as well, that could be hard to explain." I say as they ignore me.  
"Strange? How could you be a stranger to me? I have known you since I was seven years old."  
"Yeah... I suppose you have. I came the quick route." He laughs slightly at this. Reinette touches the Doctor's cheek, examining him. His eyes widen.  
"Well, you seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd. Reason tells me you cannot be real." She sighs.  
The Doctor shakes his head, gazing at her "Oh, pfft... You never want to listen to reason..."  
"Especially when it says this man isn't real" I beam  
"Mademoiselle! Your mother grows impatient." Someone calls  
Reinette calls back, annoyed by the interruption, "A moment!" She looks back at the Doctor. "So many questions. So little time." She pulls the Doctor towards her and kisses him passionately on the lips. They stumble backwards into the mantelpiece, the Doctor starting to kiss her back...  
"Mademoiselle Poisson!" the same man calls.  
Reinette breaks the kiss and runs to the open door, grabbing a purse from her dressing table as she goes, without so much as a backward glance. The Doctor watches her, awestruck, as she leaves. The servant comes to the door but stops dead as he notices the Doctor.  
"Poisson?" I ask allowed "Reinette Poisson?" The servant looks bemused by our presence.  
"No... no, no, no, no, no way, Reinette Poisson?!" the Doctor says and runs right up to the manservant, {Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Louis the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France?" We run back towards the fireplace. "Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan? Fantastic gardener!" He laughs  
"Who the hell are you?!" The servant shouts, the Doctor reaches for the fireplace and finds the trigger back to the ship.  
"I'm the Doctor." He yells like a fangirl  
"And He just snogged Madame de Pompadour!" I yell just as happily. The fireplace revolves again, taking us with it as he laughs manically. He steps back onto the ship a moment before me.  
"Rose!" He calls full of adrenaline. There is no-one there. He looks around. "Mickey? Every time! Every time, it's rule one - Don't wander off! I tell them, I do, rule one! There could be anything on this ship!" He says as we turn the corner with a white horse in the middle of the corridor. The Doctor blinks while the horse whinnies. The Doctor crosses a junction of corridors, looking completely lost.  
"Rose?" I call following him. The horse follows us. The Doctor stops to look down a corridor before turning around.  
"Will you stop following me? I'm not your mother!" I step aside and the horse noses him. The Doctor moves away, having spotted a set of white, French double doors. He opens them. "So this is where you came from, eh, horsey?"  
"He has a name Doctor," I say following. We walk out onto a grassy courtyard. I spot a familiar figure. He smiles and walks to a low wall with a pillar and an urn on top. Two ladies laugh, walking arm in arm. As they speak, the Doctor watches them in the background.  
I walk back on the ship and pet the horse. "Let's give you a name." I say. "What about… Lesley?" He whinnies. "Okay, not Lesley… What about Clove?" Another whinny.  
"His name is Arthur." The Doctor returns.

The Doctor wraps his tie around his head and has sunglasses on and begins to sing taking the wine back from me. "I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night..." He continues acting drunkenly singing "And still have begged for moooore... I could've spread my wings and done a thou- have you met the French? My... GOD, they know how to party." He roars.  
"Oh, look at what the cat dragged in. The Oncoming Storm." Rose  
"Oh, you sound just like your mother." The Doctor says distastefully.  
"What've you been doing? Where've you been?!" Rose says crossly  
"Getting drunk, in-" I start.  
"Well... among other things, I think just invented the banana daiquiri a few centuries early." He shouts. Rose lies back, exasperated. "Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before!" He leans over her. "Always take a banana to a party, Rose. Bananas are GOOD." He shakes his finger, and spots the droids.  
He's absolutely delighted. "Oh ho ho ho ho, brilliant. It's you! You're my favourite, you are, you are the best! Do you know why? 'Cause you're so THICK. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania." as an afterthought. "And so's your dad." He strolls away.  
"Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for?" I ask them. "Her milometer. They wanna know how old she is. Know why? 'Cause this ship is thirty-seven years old. And they think that when Reinette is thirty-seven, when she's 'complete', then her brain will be compatible. So, that's what you're missing, isn't it?" I stare one of the droids mockingly in the face.  
"Hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason - God knows what - only the brains of Madame de Pompadour will do." He says skeptically.  
"The brain is compatible." The Droid says  
"Compatible? I say as he approaches the droid.  
"If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine." He removes the droid's mask and pours the 'wine' into the clockwork inside the head of the droid. He replaces the mask and pats it on the head. The droid wind downs. Rose leans back in relief. He 'becomes' suddenly sober. "Multigrain anti-oil. If it moves, it doesn't."  
A droid from the corner of the room begins to advance, but the Doctor quickly deactivates it using a nearby lever.  
"Right, you two, that's enough lying about..." He releases Rose and Mickey quickly with the sonic screwdriver, and they slide down the tables onto the floor.  
"Time we got the rest of the ship turned off." I say  
"Are those things safe?" Mickey questions  
"Yep. Safe. Safe and thick. Way I like them. Okay, all the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down." The Doctor states, pulling the tie down and pushing the sunglasses up. "Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs?" he feels his pockets and looks around for them. "I had them a minute ago, I was using them as castanets."  
"Did you leave them in France?" I ask like a mother would her child.  
"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty-seven?" Rose asks  
"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they'll be lucky to hit the right century. Trial and error after that." He tries to operate the computer. "The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?" There is an ominous pinging sound.  
"What's that?" Rose and I say  
"I don't know... incoming message?" He yells over the clicking sounds  
"From who?" Mickey asks  
"Report from the field... one of them must still be out there with Reinette! That's why I can't close the windows, there's an override! " Behind him, one of the clockwork droids springs to life with a whirring sound. Rose gasps. The droid expels the 'wine' the Doctor poured into its mechanics over the Doctor's shoe.  
"Well, that was a bit clever. " He says shaking his foot. The rest of the droids spring to life, filling the room with ticking.  
"Right... many things about this are not good." The pinging sounds again. "Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?" The Doctor says.  
"She is complete. It begins." The Droid says. They teleport out.  
"What's happening?" Rose asks  
"One of them must've found the right time window, and now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head."

**AN: Okay I know it took me awhile to get this up, but there is a part 2 that will be posted at the same time!**


	4. Chapter 2: (Part 2) Madame de Pompadour

**AN: Part two. **

"Madame de Pompadour," Reinette gasps "Please, don't scream or anything, we haven't got a lot of time." I tell her "I've come to warn you that they'll be here in five years."  
"Five years?" she asks  
"Sometime after your thirty-seventh birthday. I um... I can't give you an exact date. It's a bit random." I try to explain "But they're coming. It's going to happen. In a way, for us, it's already happening. I'm sorry, it's hard to explain. The Doctor does this better." I laugh a bit.  
"Then be exact, and I will be attentive." She says sternly  
"There isn't time. I'm sorry." I apologize.  
"There are five years." She's persistent.  
"For you. I haven't got five minutes." I shake my head to prove my point.  
"Then also be concise." She says. Reinette takes a seat, ready to listen.  
"Erm... there's say, um... a- a... a vessel. A ship. A sort of sky ship. And it's full of... well, you. Different bits of your life in different rooms, all jumbled up. I told you it was complicated, sorry." I sigh  
"There is a vessel in your world... where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book so that he may step from one to the other without increase of age... while I, weary traveller... must always take the slower path?" she asks angrily  
"I would stay with you, but I can't… Not now"  
"So, in five years these creatures will return. What can be done?" She asks needing to understand  
"The Doctor says keep them talking. They're kind of programmed to respond to you now. You won't be able to stop them, but you might be able to delay them a bit." I tell her  
"Until?"  
"Until the Doctor can get there."  
"He's coming, then?"  
"He promises."  
"But he cannot... make his promises in person?"  
"He'll be there when you need him. That's the way it's gotta be." Rose says from behind me  
"It's the way it's always been. The monsters and the Doctor. It seems you cannot have one without the other." Reinette looks directly at Rose.  
"Tell me about it." Rose and I say together  
"The thing is... you weren't supposed to have either. Those creatures are messing with history. None of this was ever supposed to happen to you." Rose continues  
"Supposed to happen? What does that mean? It happened, child. And I would not have it any other way. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel." Reinette says angrily. She stands with her back to us, facing the fireplace.  
"I know Reinette; I waited years for him to come back like you too, but…"  
"Rose? Logan?" Mickey calls Reinette and Rose turn. Mickey appears from behind a tapestry just outside the room. "Rose!" Rose rushes to meet him. "The time window when she's thirty-seven. We found it. Right under our noses." He says excitedly.  
He stops as Reinette pauses. She looks at the window behind the tapestry and makes for it. "No, you can't go in there, the Doctor will go mad!" Rose calls after her, but Reinette has already walked through onto the spaceship.  
As I walk back to the spaceship Reinette is looking at her surroundings, lost and confused, and evidently slightly scared. The three of us can only watch her.  
"So, this is his world." Reinette asks. We hear screaming and chaos in the distance. "What was that?"  
"The time window, the Doctor fixed an audio link." Mickey tells us.  
As if she's afraid of the answer "Those screams... is that my future? " Reinette asks  
"Yeah... I'm sorry." Rose says slightly hanging her head  
"Then I must take the slower path." Reinette tells us.  
Reinette's voice sounds in the distance from the time window. "Are you there? Can you hear me? I need you now, you promised. The clock on the mantel is broken. It is time."  
"That's my voice." She says wide eyed.  
"Rose, Logan, come on - we've gotta go. There's- there's a problem."  
"Give me a moment" I tell him. Mickey and Rose rush away, but I approach Reinette.  
"Are you okay?" I ask concerned.  
"No. I'm very afraid. But you and I both know, don't we, Logan? The Doctor is worth the monsters." She states.  
"Every time," I smile. "He's may be mad but he is brilliant. I'll see you soon." I smile giving her a quick hug. Reinette walks back through the tapestry into her world.

The Doctor works frantically as I join them at the time window. "They knew I was coming. They blocked it off." He says continuing his work.  
"I don't get it. How come they got in there?" Rose asks not sure what to make of it.  
"They teleported - you saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick." He says with wires still in hand.  
"Well, we'll go in the TARDIS!" She replies.  
"We can't use the TARDIS, we're part of events now." He tells her.  
"Well, can't we just smash through it?" Mickey asks  
"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck." the Doctor exclaims  
"We don't have a truck." Mickey responds stupidly  
"I know we don't have a truck!" He shouts  
"Clam down!" I say  
"Well, we've gotta try something!" Rose yells  
"No, smash the glass, smash the time window, there'd be no way back!" He roars at us. Rose stares at him.

"Are you sure you want to come?" The Doctor asks me.  
"Yeah I kind of told her I would be with you" I shrug. "What would I be if I started breaking my promises?" I question with an eyebrow raised.  
"Well then Allons-y!" He yells and Arthur slams through the glass.

The Doctor winks as we trot past Reinette. The horse comes to a halt and the Doctor drops down. "Madame de Pompadour. You look younger every day." He beams as I try to hop off.  
"Little help alien boy?" I ask as Reinette smiles.  
"What the hell is going on?" The King of France Roars  
"Oh - this is my lover, the King of France." Reinette states  
"Yeah? Well, I'm the Lord of Time." He howls approaching the chief droid. "And I'm here to fix the clock." He removes the mask of the droid, revealling the clockwork underneath, which elicits a gasp from the crowd. The droid points its weapon at the Doctor. "Forget it. It's over. For you and for me."  
I glance up at the broken mirror. There is only a brick wall behind it. "Talk about seven years bad luck. Try three thousand..." I laugh. The droid cocks its head to look at the mirror. The droid repeatedly tries to use its teleport, to no avail. It turns to the Doctor.  
"The link with the ship is broken. No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up." He says vengefully. And finally, the clockwork winds down and the droid goes dead. The other droids follow suit and slump forwards. One of them falls backwards causing the clockwork to smash over the floor.  
"You all right?" I ask Reinette and stumble around the bots to get to her. She nods as the Doctor pulls her to her feet.  
"What's happened to them?" She asks surprised.  
"They've stopped. They have no purpose now." I smile and laugh. "Absolutely brilliant."

The Doctor stands by the window, holding a glass of wine and looking up at the stars. I come up behind him wearing a blue dress similar to Reinette's. "You know all their names, don't you? I saw that in your mind. The name of every star." Reinette says from behind me  
"What's in a name? Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything." He replies.  
"Like, 'The Doctor'." She says.  
"Like, 'Madame de Pompadour'." He says and Reinette laughs.  
"I have often wished to see those stars a little closer. Just as you have, I think." She says.  
"Oh I'd like that too Doctor! Never taken me to any of them." I interject.  
"You look lovely by the way Logan" he says hugging me  
"In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen?" Reinette changes the subject.  
"Mm. Pretty much." He shrugs  
"Yet, still you came." Reinette smiles  
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" he smiles in response "Catch me doing that again."  
"There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?" She asks  
"When the mirror broke, the shock will have severed all the links with the ship. There'll be a few more broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid. Wherever there was a time window. I'll- I'll, er... pay for any damage." He smirks Reinette laughs.  
"Um... oh, that's a thought, we're gonna need money." I tell him.  
"I was always a bit vague about money. Where do you get money?" He ask in general.  
"So, here you are. My lonely angels. Stuck on the slow path, with me." She sighs at both of us. I take a sip of my glass of wine.  
"Yep." He pops his 'p'. "The slow path."  
"Been there before. Though with the Doctor it should be a blast" I laugh. "Maybe wine isn't the best idea for me." I put my glass on the window sill he grins and holds up his glass  
"Here's to the slow path." Reinette laughs and they chink their glasses together and sip their wine.  
"It's a pity... I think I would've enjoyed the slow path." She sighs  
"Well, we're not going anywhere." I say grabbing her hand  
"Oh, aren't you?" she sets down her wine and holds out her other hand to him. "Take my hand." The Doctor takes her hand and she leads us out of the room.

We enter Reinette's bedroom and stand in the doorway. "It's not a copy. It's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail."  
"The fireplace..." I gasp, he walks slowly forward.  
"The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?" He asks moving his hand over the mantel  
"Many years ago. In the hope that a door once opened, may someday be opened again. One never quite knows when one needs one's Doctor." they smile at each other "It appears undamaged, do you think it will still work?"  
"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it. Which means it was off-line when the mirror broke. That's what saved it. But.." he moves closer to the fireplace "the link is basically physical, and it's still physically here." Reinette watches him, not saying anything but with a hint of sadness in her eyes. I look at the Doctor with hope.  
He begins tapping the woodwork. "Which might just mean, if I'm lucky... if I'm very, very, very, very, very, very lucky…" He seems to find the spot he is looking for. He beams. "Aha!"  
"What?" We say together.  
"Loose connection!" He holds his sonic screwdriver to the 'loose connection'. "Need to get a man in!" He bangs on the mantelpiece, then stands ready for the fireplace to turn. "Wish me luck!" He says as the fireplace begins to turn  
"No..." I yell rushing towards the fireplace. The Doctor's grin fades from his face, but too late. I bang the mantel to try to get it to move

" Logan! Madame de Pompadour!" He calls from the fireplace  
"Doctor!" I call back crouching beside Reinette  
"Still wanna see those stars?" He asks us.  
"More than anything." She tells him. Tears rush down my cheeks  
"Give me two minutes. Pack a bag!" He looks at Reinette.  
"Am I going somewhere?" She asks  
"Go to the window. Pick a star. Any star." He says. "Logan, I promise I'll be there."  
"You better, I don't think I can take it if I have to wait around for you Alien Boy." I call to him as he disappears. Reinette rushes to the window and looks up at the night sky, breathless with anticipation. I stay with her waiting hoping that the Doctor is true to his promise this time.

**~5 years later~**

I sit in Reinette's old room, in the dark when I hear the voice I've longed to hear for the last five years. "Reinette?" The Doctor can be seen in the fireplace. "You there, Reinette? Or Logan?"  
I run to find Louis. "He's here." I tell him excitedly  
"Reinette?" The Doctor calls as he appears in the doorway. I run and hug him.  
"Oh. Hello." He says returning the hug.  
"You just missed her. She'll be in Paris by six." King Louis tells him.  
"Ah." The Doctor says as we break apart. The King stares at the Doctor and takes a few steps towards him.  
"Good Lord... she was right. She said you never looked a day older. Louis is awestruck. The Doctor raises his eyebrows. "So many years since I saw you last, yet not a day of it on your face." He walks slowly over to a sideboard and opens a drawer. He takes out a letter. "Between Logan and Reinette they never stopped speaking of you." I blush at this, tears streaming down my cheeks. The Doctor's smile is fading as he begins to understand. "Often wished you'd visit again. You know how women are." I shoot him a glance.  
He holds the letter out to the Doctor, who takes it and looks at it. The King is distracted by the thrash of a whip, a neighing from outside and then the sound of hooves. He goes back to the window. The Doctor and I join him.  
"There she goes." I sigh. Through the rain, we watch the hearse carry Reinette's coffin away through the gates of the palace.  
"Leaving Versailles for the last time. Only forty-three when she died." He says in the same tone. The Doctor's face is solemn with a pain that he can't quite hide.  
"Too young... too young. Illness took her in the end. She always did work too hard." His eyes are glistening with tears. He turns to the Doctor. "What does she say?" The king asks.  
Without a word and without looking away from the window, the Doctor silently tucks the letter inside his jacket. "Of course. Quite right." He nods returning to the window.  
After a few more moments, the Doctor turns and walks away. I follow him.  
"Oi!" I call. "You lied to me, you said two minutes and you left me… Again." I yell tears still streaming. "You didn't have to see her die Doctor!"  
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." He stammers.  
"Will you at least make certain that I'm on the fireplace this time?" I sob. He nods and guides me back to the TARDIS.

"Why her?" Rose asks. She and Mickey are standing by the console. "Why did they think they could fix the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?"  
"We'll probably never know. There was massive damage in the computer memory base. Probably got confused." I sit in the pilot's chair in the dress I was wearing. He goes to the controls. "The TARDIS can close down the time windows now the droids are gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble." He taps on the computer, acting for the world as if everything is okay. But Rose knows there's something wrong.  
"Are you all right?" She asks. The Doctor looks up.  
"I'm always all right" He smiles briefly, and fiddles with the controls again. Rose still watches him, aware that he's keeping something to himself. Mickey realizes he wants to be alone and tugs on Rose's arm.  
"Come on, Rose. It's time you showed me around the rest of this place." Mickey tells her. Rose is hesitant to leave us, and glances over her shoulder as Mickey leads her from the console room. The Doctor continues to pretend to work at the computer for a few moments, and then glances around to make sure they are gone. Then he slowly takes the letter out of his pocket and carefully opens it.

The Doctor, having finished reading, tucks the letter away again and turns back to the console, so very heavy of heart. I come up behind him and we take one last look at the image of the fireplace on the monitor, which is still lit with merrily dancing flames. He presses a few keys, and they go out, leaving the fireplace shrouded in darkness. He stands there watching it for a few more moments before looking up at the rotor.  
"I need to find something else to wear, is there a wardrobe somewhere?" I ask.  
"Down the hall to the left." He says grimly.

**AN: Skipping over the cybermen, but will mention the episodes briefly. Off to London in the 1950s!**


End file.
